applause] >> joining us this evening is the honorable sherman, under secretary for natural resources and environment at the u.s. department of agriculture. he has a holiday message to share with you as well. [applause] >> speaker boehner, senators udall and bennett, congressman tipton and distinguished guests, on behalf of the secretary, tom vilsack and our chief of the forest service, i would like to say a few words if i can. each year, the capitol christmas tree comes from the u.s. forest service, which is an agency within usda and eachier we -- each year we select that tree from a different forest. this tree is from a small town called meeker, colorado in the white river national forest in the high mountain areas of colorado. and it's a spruce tree and 73 feet tall and happens to be 74 years old. it's only the third time in colorado's history that colorado has provided the capitol christmas tree and i'm particularly proud of that since i'm a colorado resident. yay, colorado! [cheers and applause] >> we call this the people's tree for good reason and that's because it comes from our public lands,